industry as chairman wheeler. he was a long-time senate staffer republican who is respected. so far all of the comments from chairman wheeler and public interest groups and industry groups and big companies have been supportive. i think it is, from my point of view and the others, it is great the fcc finally has their five member compliment because it is time to get to work. >> the communicators will continue to cover this. sam gustin from time magazine. thanks for being with us.

>> at monday's veterans day day ceremony at arlington national cemetery president obama talked about ending the war. here is a little of what he had. >> on tour after tour in iraq and afghanistan. this generation, the 9-11 generation has met ever mission and because of their service the core of al qaeda is on the path to defeat and our homeland is safer. there are many people like the soon-to-be veteran i met a while

ago. hogan survived to iraq twice and survived three separate ied explosions and deployed again to afgh afgh afghanistan once she was well. she wears the combat action badge and is xht committed to helping others recover from the trial of war. helping the truth is what she said all about. my fellow americans, that is what we should boo be all about. soon one of the first marines to arrive in afghanistan 12 years ago, daniel yu, will lead the

last trip that is set to deploy and more troops will come home. this winter the troop levels in afghanistan are down to 34,000 and by this time next year the transition to afghan-led security will be complete and the longest war in american history ends. >> in a few minutes the veterans day service at the world war ii memorial. and we will look at the issues facing veterans issue homeless ness, jobs and va benefits and then a hearing on hurricane sandy recovery efforts after that. >> a couple of live events tomorrow morning: the national journal host charley cook on the 2014 mid-term elections is at 8:30 eastern time. and on c-span 3 you can watch

the atlantic counsel on nato's defense strategy.

>> the postal service unveiled a new stamp today at a veterans day seceremony >> hoshosted pie the friend of the world war ii veteran service. >> this memorial is a beautiful day in washington, d.c. and we are glad to have everyone here today. my jname is jim fischer and i a the director of events. on this veterans day day we want to thank and honor all of the veterans especially the world war ii. it is my privilege to intr de e deuce -- introduce the master of sar ceremonies.

ken has more than 20 years of experience as a constructional working working on monuments and benefits. earthquake damage, the national martin luther king memorial and others. his knowledge of this site is n invaluable in hope helping effort to join efforts to upkeep the memory. it is my honor to introduce kenneth terry.

[ applause ] >> good morning. it is my great honor to be your master of ceremonies as we remember all of the veterans who have served our great country. to all of the veterans and service members past and present, we owe gratitude for their service. i am pleased to introduce the official party for the remembering. the governor of the great state of maryland. martin o'malley.

[ applause ] >> also with us today is the postmaster general, patrick donah donahoe. [ applause ] >> the super intendment of the national park service. mr. robert vogel. >> the executive direction of the maritime organization. mr. joel debot.

and my boss lieutenant collide kicklighter. and we will the kernel chaplain james gray with us today. we have the honor and privilege of having four heroes with us today. world war ii medal of honor recipient mast sergeant william

kirby ross. united states army retired. [ applause ] >> also with us, world war ii medal of honor recipient, mr. george scote. united states army. >> also present with us today we have two other medal of honor

recipients. vietnam war medal of honor harvey barnum, united states marine core. [ applause ] >> and vietnam war medal of honor recipient bruce crandel, us army. >> it is also our honor to have irene here. and her husband. thank you for being here to remember this special day at the world war ii memorial. ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the national anthem and

invocation. [national anthem and invocation]

>> please joining me praying according to your faith as i pray according to mine. heavenly father, your word

instructs us to be strong. on this day we take time to remember the veterans, but particularly the world war ii veterans. our congress in 1926 established this as a day to honor the military. for us to take pride in those who died in the country's service. this day is remembered with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises to increase peace. we begin this ceremony with prayer and thank you for the blessings of peace in our land that were blood fought during world war ii by the sacrifice of

fellow citizens. we thank you for those days. and for those who still bless us with their presence. our nation, who understands, the ravages of hurricanes, our hearts go out to the friends and the nation of the philippines. so many world war ii veterans served and liberated that country and so many citizens call that home their first land. we pray for our veterans many of those reaching out to them now. lord today, we pray we will never forget the examples of the world war ii veterans. these citizens understand duty, honor and country. we pray the peace they protected and bestowed we will not take for granted.

your word says blessed are the peace makers and we ask your blessing for the world war ii peace makes. may we be like them. on the blessed name above others who offers wisdom and with him i pray according to our faiths we pray. amen. >> please be seated. >> it is now my privilege to introduce the superintendent of the national park service. mr. robert vogel. [ applause ] >> good morning. on behalf of the national mall and memorial parks and the

national park service welcome to this annual serving of veterans day. i i am pleased to welcome o'malley and general donahoe. he very much appreciate the ongoing support that the friends provide to the memorial. just this past week friends and partnership with the trust for the national mall and park service debuted a new world war ii ap. and welcome to all of the

veteran and a special well to our medal of honor recipients. and senator inaway who is a medal of other than inner and a key figure in making this memorial a reality. thank you for your service. [ applause ] >> 70 years ago in the midst of two great wars on opposite sides of the globe 9 million service men were on active duty. that number swelled to over 12 million by the wars end in 1945. millions more worked in america's farm fields and factories toiling with the conviction that each bushel of wheat would help their uniformed

service men to win the war and end tyranny and restore democracy around the world. through courage, determination and being self-less they succeeded in the mission. and when they came home their work wasn't done. they improved their education with the gi bill of rights and built our nation into a land of prosperity. building america is their lasting legacy. this memorial is an enduring memorial their sacrifice. this memorial of stone and

bron bronze brings people together. this memorial of stone and bronze has the power to rekindle the flame of affection in our hearts. to all of the veterans, i am humbled to join with you honoring your service. well to to your rmemorial and thank you for attending today. thank you very much. >> i would like to read a poem by thomas crane who recently

visited the memorial and penned this. it is titled in honor of the world war ii and their memorial. fallen heroes lie beneath the soil of foreign land where rows of marker make their stand. a monument to bring their memories closer to hand. many vets died to save one today. now he lives with sorry. a vet remembers when pals stood at his side. he carried a vision of them he can never hide. the hell, the horror they all faced, he knows within his heart they will not be forgotten or disgraced. old and weathered the memories that the mun monument brings

tears to his eyes and thoughts are near. it is my honor to introduce the chairman of the board. kicklighter. >> on behalf of the friends of the national world war ii memorial it is an honor and privilege to welcome you. general o'malley and postmaster donaho sthathank you for being . it is special to have four congressional honor members attend this. thank you all for being with us

as well. [ applause ] and we have so many other dis distinguished guest and our honored guests. and the men and women serving in the armed forces. thank you for coming to honor and remember the men and women who served and sacrificed to keep this great nation strong and free. at this very special memorial, we especially remember the 16 million americans who served during world war ii and all of the ones who served on the home

hom homefront. more than 60 million people lost lives in world war ii, mostly men and women and children and elderly who were run over. they won the war and saved this nation but also saved the world literally. we remember those who served on the home front as well. never has our nation been so united as we were in that war. and we especially remember the 400,000 americans who never came home. they gave everything. and when you are only 18 and 19 all of your tomorrows is a high price to pay. but they paid that price so we could live in this strong, free and beautiful america that we're proud to come home.

the board and staff of the national world war ii memorial is privileged to continue to work hard to insure the legacy, lessons and sacrifices of the world war ii generation is never forgotten. it is great pride to work along side the park service who does an outstanding job of taking care of this magnificent memorial. and we are proud to partner with the department of defense to cohost special events like this. thank you for coming and honoring and remembering the veterans for their sacrifice that have kept the nation free throughout our hasistory. i would like to give a special

thank to thanks to the men and women serving on the battle field today. what a great job they have gone and still do. and they are all volunteers. god bless the veterans, especially the world war ii and the men and women serving on our battlefields and god bless america. thank you for being here. [ applause ] >> members of the air force will perform a salute to our veterans now. [salute to the veterans]

thank you, inouye. antonio who designed the stamp we'll see in a couple of minutes, robert fraser, who is the photographer whose image appears on the stamp. katherine and janet from the postal services citizens stamp advisory committee. this memorial is a place to honor heroes. it's where we come to pay tribute to veterans who have sacrificed so much to defend our country and the freedoms we cherish. the postal service also has a role in honoring america's

heroes. and that is through stamps. many stamps tell the story of people who have shaped our history and defined our heritage. today we're deading -- dedicating stamps that salute the recipient of the medal of honor. it's awarded by the president to servicemembers who go above and beyond the call of duty. like no other of the 16 million americans who served our country in world war ii. only 464 received the medal of honor. and more than half were awarded to men killed in action. during world war ii, there were two versions of the medal of honor. one for the army and one for the navy.

today we are dedicating two stamps. one that features a picture of the army medal and one that says the navy's version. when we announced the stamps last year, we wanted to do something special. we decided the stamps should come with a list of all 464 medal of honor winners from world war ii. along with the images of the 12 living recipients. sadly, we've lost four of these men, including danielle -- daniel inouye. i had the good fortune to know the senator, whose story is remarkable. while attacking the army in italy he destroyed two machine gun encampment. his right arm was shattered. he continued to direct his platoon until the enemy of defeated. we remember senator inouye and

other medal of honor recipients who are not with us today. their pictures remain as part of the stamp follow owe, along with the images of two recipient who are honoring us today with the presence. the first is will bert. let me tell you a little bit about his story. october of 1944, after private ross' company he lost automatic but three men while fighting the enemy in france. he positioned the machine gun in front of the enemy and began to absorb their attack. during more than five hours of combat he killed or wounded 58 enemy soldiers and saved the rest of his company. the other medal honor recipient here today is george. who also happens to be a retired member of the postl -- postal service. in 1944, october, the private's unit was pinned down by heavy enemy fire in france. he launched the one-man rush

that inspired the platoon to charge and destroy the enemy. the result, the private killed 12, wounded 2, and personally captured 4 enemy soldiers. i would like to ask the two gentleman to stand or wave so we can salute their courage. gentlemen? [applause] thank you for being here. [applause] , by the way, you can learn more about these gentlemen and other world war ii recipient by visiting the medal's official vice president. in that spirit, i wanted to take the opportunity point another world war ii vet and postal service retiree who was here today. anthony, thank you for being here today. [applause] indeed our challenge as a nation is to never forget the sacrifices of all the men who

made, on our behalf. that's why we have veteran's day, memorial, and events like this one. my postal colleagues and i hope the new medal of honor stamps will give everyone more ways to preserve our veteran's stories for future generations. to please use these stamps. send them around the country and around the world. let them is serve as small reminder of the giant sacrifices made by the menu see here today. the heroes of world war ii. thank you very much. [applause] i would like to invite mrs. inouye and the honored guests to join me on the side over here for the unveiling of the medal of honor stamp. thank you.

[unveiling of the medal of honor stamp]

[applause]

the honorable martin o'malley is serving the people of maryland in the second term of governor. a former governing magazine public official of the year,

governor o'malley was re-elected in 2010. his 2013 legislative successes were described in a baltimore sun editorial as without many parallel in recent maryland history. prior to serving as governor, governor o'malley served as mayor of the city of baltimore, where he was recognized by esquire magazine as the best young mayor in the country. and by "time" magazine as one of america's top five big-city mayors. between 1999 and 2009 hs policies helped the people of baltimore achieve the greatest crime reduction. governor oh mallly's father served with the u.s. army air force during world war ii. ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege to introduce a great american, governor martin oh -- o'malley. governor of the state of maryland. [applause]

>> thank you very much. to superintendent vogel, to general kick lighter, postmaster general donohue. to mrs. inouye, to medal of honor recipients george, will bert, barney, bruce. to john and the distinguished company of veterans from baltimore city, the greatest city in america. to veterans one and all, the spirit of my father. 72 years ago, my parents' generation found our nation plunged in to world war. there's was a clear and a struggle. a struggle that would determine whether or not this government of the people, by the people,

and for the people would perish from the earth. here today at the world war ii memorial and circled by stones honor. we pause this morning as one nation to pay tribute to our veterans. hear the fanfare of the common man. citizens, soldier, american, father, brother, son. the little name a mother called once. each was asked the question in the snows of korea, or the judge

-- jungle of vietnam, in the desert of iraq, or the mountains of afghanistan, and the blood-drenched field of gettysburg or in the frozen mud of valley forge: each was asked a question. for family, for neighbors, for generations you will never meet. one nation under god, how big is your love? our duty this morning is not to lift their service high. no personal tribute or failing of hours, no filibuster or shutdown can touch the gift already ascending far beyond our earthly reach. our duty is not to lift higher, but to dig deeper.

to serve through the shadows of our own current doubts. to rediscover our own true selfs. to find within us the power greater than the individuals we. to seek and touch a stronger truth. a truth heal the hearlt of our democracy. the truth that is still abides, a truth that calls us to their unfinished work. you see, our parents and grandparents they understood well the essence we share as americans. it is the truth that lies at the heart of the american dream. the stronger we make our country, the more she gives to us. the more she gives to our

children. the more she gives to our grandchildren. the veterans we honor today did not serve, did not fight and die so their grandchildren could grow up in a country of less. they gave to us a larger and stronger country. a country of more. a country of more opportunity, more freedom, more justice. a country that we now have the ability to pass on to our own grandchildren if we choose even stronger and better than they gave to us. for the country they carried in their hearts was no small or fading thing. the future they created was far larger than themselves or even their own generation.

the love they freely gave us was an ever lasting love, expansive, resounding, and big. and so much to be with us the ongoing life giving work of the united states of america is not finished. the duty to preserve, detect, and defend is not the exclusive fate or franchise of any one generation however great. it is the freedom of every generation. it is the responsibility of every generation. it is the greatness that calls to each of us. may god bless the souls of all brave men and women: past, present, and future. whose love for others proves

them worthy to be called americans. [applause] over the next two hours we'll look at some of the issues facing veterans. including education, homelessness, jobs, va and benefits. the "washington journal" begins with a look at the military and civilians. >> host: on this veteran's day we're going to take a look at: the reasons and ways that the u.s. civilians and theirt the re military are startasing to drift apart at the topic that is often referred to as the civilian military divide and joining us w s issue is michael noonan, a veteran of operation iraqi freedom and direct your of the program of national security at

the foreign policy research institute. what are some of the ways the civilian-military divide sort of the ways thatf in people can see what we're talking about here? guest: i mean, first of all, we have to nuke there is always going to be some form of civil- military divide. one people join the military, they are in cultivated into the way the military does things out of necessity. to be able to react to orders and do things most normal people probably would not do. like the marine corp. commercial, moved to the sound of guns. there is going to be some form of divide between the military and civil society. however, there are ways that us, of exacerbate those of particularly post-service. phil carter and the tenant general david -- from center for mayor ken security, for instance, had a piece in "the washington post" where they talk

about the divide and how the military actually contribute to it by things like living on the es that since 9/11 have been closed down to the public. they have their own school systems. they are gated communities, basically. and among some -- because we do have an all voluntary military, there is a feeling among some that perhaps they are better than the civilian society that , so those are just sort of some of the manifestations of the civil- military divide. host: when did this start? yourself byple like writing about this and talking more about it? guest: it started in the 1990s really. there were two studies came up. one, a consortium between duke university and the university of north carolina chapel hill and north carolina state, and the

center for strategic and international studies did a big study around 97 or 1998 talking about the culture and what differentiated the views and attitudes of the sort of civil- military divide. it was kindthought of a byproduct of the clinton administration, how you had a president who chose not to serve and peoplesoft is perhaps as a partisan issue and were looking at things like political identification -- people saw this perhaps as a partisan issue. at the time it skewed heavily conservative -- not necessarily republican but a more conservative worldview than civil society. some people thought that this whenoing to change president george w. bush took office, but it really didn't. saw with the iraqi and

afghanistan wars, certain segments of the military itself found certain aspects of these wars to be kind of unpopular. so it is really sort of a post- cold war manifestation tied up end of thece the draft, you move to an all volunteer force. sensen people feel that of volunteered, they are serving certainf of society and segments have felt some time to time that they are sort of unappreciated. host: we are talking about the civil-military divide with --hael noonan from the policy research institute. we want to hear your thoughts. with a special line, again, for veterans on the subject. we want to hear from you on this veterans day. 3883.85- all others --

host: mr. noonan, while folk are talk about the knology aspic. some people who have written about the subject have said technology has further widened the gap. guest: i think it has both the widened and narrowed the gap. ,or instance, when i was iniraq i had access to e-mail and i lived in a small fort with the iraqi army and one of the units before is installed a commercial internet line. so, i got literally come back from a patrol going out with our iraqi battalion an e-mail or call my wife on the phone, which did not generations have the opportunity to do. it was kind of instant communication. i think that could be both a blessing and a curse sometimes, because it could take away some of the distance there.

in one sense, it kind of connection you but in the other sense, if he had a bad day it is really not that great to have .nstantaneous access to people and when you drone operators working in a place like the air force base in nevada, actually conducting end of combat operations using remotely piloted aircraft. and they can take out military targets on the ground and then kind of go home and go to soccer practice for the kids and have dinner that night. so that is kind of that -- some people degrade their service, but on the other hand, it is kind of an unenviable position for them to be in. host: michael noonan from the foreign policy research institute. in 2006-2007. correct?

and where did you serve? guest: in western ninevah province, up in the northwest corner of the country not far from syria. it was an interesting part of a rack. heavily kurdish, turk -- interesting part of iraq. there were a but lot of foreign fighters coming from syria causing a lot of problems. a very interesting and unique place to serve. i am sorry, go ahead. no, i was about to say we were actually able to go back into sh part of the country. that really is the other iraq. much different than serving down in baghdad but in our area of operations where we were stationed you certainly would not go out like that. host: michael noonan with your questions and comments.

mary from fort washington on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking this call. fromand ask military brat the 1960s in the 1970s. i was a military brat until i was 22. i think the civilian-military divide is far less today than it was back in those age. we do live very sheltered. when you are in the military, you have the best px, the postage change, the store, for lehman l --ayman. still today, if you want to go to a real grocery store you go to a military base. because of the wars, extra divide in that sense. civilian armada -- are not allowed to go on the military base as they used to, so they are going to feel that divide. but as far as emotional divide, i feel that military families are more open-minded because you have more access to the world. so, we try to close that divide as often as we can but every

time we have a war, we shut down and closed the gates down, a get wider and it is back and forth. my opinion. thank you. host: michael noonan? your thoughts. guest: your caller makes excellent points. generation of veterans experienced nothing like the people who served in vietnam and came back and were kind of really treated poorly by society. even a society that has the troubles with the post-9/11 wars at least thankfully have made that the tension that the people that serve are not responsible is serving there, that there kind of this divide between politics and the soldiers. i think that is a great thing. isthe other hand, i think it almost too much sometimes. when i came back from leave from hartsfield airport in atlanta and just eruptions of -- comingnot a plane

off the airplane made you feel self conference and there is a difference and awe sometimes that makes many veterans of my current generation of little bit uncomfortable. host: you brought up the "washington post" piece from yesterday on the issue. who is responsible for this points outt piece the u.s. military, the way that they howl as active-duty members of the military could be part of the problem here. it notes that u.s. military bases are some of the most exclusive gated communities. more than a third live on base as with many more living just outside the wire --

host: michael noonan, who do you think is sort of more at fault in creating a sort of divide? = between civilians and the military? or is one side more at fault? , certainlyhat issue post-9/11, there was a feeling and a justified one, that there was an increased threat to military bases. so, some of the family housing areas are not the traditional -- areas. they are not as restrictive interface is as their -- they are in other places. on the one hand, there was probably a good reason to lock down some of the bases. you have things like fort dix bosniacs and others gaming -- who came to the united states and talked about an attack on

fort dix. there was chatter that said these places might be prone for , but we probably took it too far. and we might want to think about starting to kind of throttle back on some of that. but one of the bigger problems is that, you know, the military -- in particular the army -- have these big mega-bases who are not traditionally big urban heavily populated areas. there is some rationale. we have to have access to training areas, ranges, and other things. of living and other expenses that you would have to pay if you had a place -- let's say, for instance, for hamilton in brooklyn. if you were going to put a lot of active-duty -- active-duty troops there, it would be expensive. so the services have kind of factored in some of these costs. that is not to say that maybe pute's a call to sort of

some of these active-duty places in the northeast and other places. the northeast right now, there is really only one big army base, fort drum in northern, northern new york. there is not a lot of contact with active-duty military people. on the other hand, there are guard and reserve units all over the place. downtown, the big armory in manhattan, for instance, does show sort of a military base to the public. it is not as much is probably they used to be. host: in their piece on that , they write -- tost: on twi

..s today expect things given them for free. we are taking a tweets and calls. john from rio rancho, new mexico , on our line for democrats. caller: happy veterans day. for all you guys have done for the country. i would like to just think you for that. i think is so she'll-political divide, but it is not the military, but definitely between the -- the classes with the wealth divide between the rich and the poor. in new mexico, we see the otherrs as friends, and people we know -- and there is really no divide between the civilians in the soldiers, because we have so many soldiers around, and we are thankful for them. but i think there is a huge geopolitical divide. what happened with world war ii

is all the technology in thereon -- somewhere but a lot of gray area. we want to feel like we are the good guys but in these wars in the middle east, we blame the politicians mostly because the people don't feel like we were the good guys in these wars. but we do not blame the soldier. thank you. host: michael noonan? there's -- is there --is economics contributing to that divide? -- is economics contributing to the divide? guest: the pay is not that bad, with allowances and other things. i guess the call is probably down the row where fort bliss is or some of the air force base's there, the there is a heavy

military presence in new mexico philhat aligns with what carter in general barnow talked about yesterday with open space. i would not want to speculate on the sociocultural -- so she'll- political argument the caller was arguing about. host: let's talk about fixing the divide going forward. what are your suggestions for narrowing that divide? well, i wrote a piece back on memorial day where i was open"g about -- it was u.s. news & world report" --one of the elements of the civil- military divide, a conflagration of veterans day today, supposed to be a celebration of veterans for their service and patriotism and sacrifices, and memorial day, which is about those who

made the ultimate sacrifice. and they are very different days. if you have known anybody who has passed away, memorial day is a very somber event. it is not just about going down to the beach for the weekend. there are a few ways that you can sort of narrow the gap a bit. one way would be for military and others to accept that there are other forms of service out there. things like teachers and municipal workers and others who are actually serving their community. true, it is not foot of the unlimited liability sense of service that the military does, and in certain cases, police and firemen do. but we need to expand the concept of service. and accept that not everyone has to be in the military. one of the issue is that -- issues is that less than one

percent of the population has served in these wars in iraq and afghanistan and other places around the world since 9/11. i think phil and general barnow puts the number at 2.6 million people out of a population of over 300 million people. so it is a very small percentage of the people. yes, weto accept that, do volunteer. service is about serving. just sort of a lifetime of benefits afterwards. now, fellow veterans who have been injured, both physically and mentally, obviously the government needs to keep faith with those veterans and make whole the promises they made to them. on the other hand, veterans have the obligation -- there was an interesting piece yesterday that that's where the author talked about his experience.

andntrymen veteran of iraq he is a student at georgetown university and he talked about how after the first few years going to school there, he had this chip on his shoulder about being a veteran. then he came to the realization that he will both have it easier and harder in a sense man some of his former conflict -- classmates who have not served. the post second world war generation and others, when they came back from their service, they saw it as just one part of their lives. not something that needed to define the rest of their lives did so they went out and did things in their community. there are other forms of service. --re are other organizations the mission continues, and others, it's really tries to bridge the divide working with the nick and business organizations around the country, -- civic and business organizations around the country

tapping into veterans to make their communities better places to live in an too continues to serve. program onel noonan, national security director at the foreign policy research institute and we are talking about the civil-military divide. taking your calls and comments. up next, eau claire, wisconsin. republican. clay, thanks for calling in. caller: i am a veteran who served in both afghanistan and iraq and i stand in solidarity with the experts demanded an investigation of why building seven fell on 9/11. why aren't you or the magazine covering the scientific evidence -- ing building seven where host: we are talking about the civil-military divide with michael noonan. did you have a question on that topic? no? we will go to robert from frostburg, maryland, an independent and a veteran calling in this morning.

robert, thanks for calling in. caller: thank you for answering my call. i am a vietnam veteran, and thank thell, i gentleman there that you have as a guest for his service. g that disturbs me very much today is every single commit american veterans suicide over their service in wars. four presidents -- dwight eisenhower warned about the military-industrial project -- complex. -- the four presidents eisenhower, kennedy, gerald ford, and george h w bush, all served in world war ii. en have a tremendous appreciation for the service of

veterans. eisenhower, gerald ford did not work in vietnam and did not commit troops -- george h w bush went into iraq and came out out of respect for the troops. eisenhower warned about the military-industrial concerts. johnson, nixon, george bush ii, they gave into the military industrial complex. iendse had four of my fr commit suicide over neglect of veterans. my congressman about the abuse of veterans in maryland. men beingt of these abused, i have been blackballed in the v.a., because i did

something that should have been done. noonan, part of what he was talking about was the experience of actually going to of u.s. leaders. pew research center put out a recent survey on veterans in congress. talked about this issue. shrinking number of veterans in congress, down to about 20 sent -- 20% today and both the house and the senate. does it contribute to the civil- military divide here? guest: first, i would like to thank robert for his service in vietnam. say that theike to issue he raised about suicide is a very important one today. and the v.a. and other people really need to step up their game to help veterans coming back, particularly ones that -- have had mental

scars from the service. the issue of veterans in congress, i think that is perhaps one part of it. there are veterans in congress today -- some, but obviously much fewer than the past. however, remember in the past, some of the people served -- we had the only period of peacetime construction -- conscription and united states, the end of the korean war until 19649065, whenever you want to count the beginning of the vietnam war. there were a lot of of the people who served and therefore served in congress. so, putting that up as a match -- metric was one way of perhaps exacerbating the civil-military divide further almost because it would kind of disproportionately represented veterans in politics. i don't think that there is any negative thing of former veterans and serving, but i think we need to be careful about sending a message that

somehow people that served in uniform are somehow better than their fellow servant -- the citizens of serving in congress. now, that being said, yes, obviously something needs to be happening -- i am sorry to hear about robert's experience in the v.a. but there are issues in the v.a. that really need to be fixed. and really needs to provide better service to veterans of all conflicts. recent cohortost of veterans. mental health' issues and the issue of the v.a., those are important subjects we will get into a little bit later in the show when we have tom tarantino on aq and afghanistan veterans in america, coming up that 8:45. we are talking about the civil- military divide with michael noonan of the foreign policy institute. he has written on the subject.

a veteran himself. guest: does he go back farther in u.s. history? guest: i didn't say it goes back just to the 1990's. there has always been some kind of divide. i think it gets exacerbated during conflicts. you have things like the draft riots in new york. it has always been around. it goes back to plato talking about guardians and people they protect. there always is this divide. contentious periods of politics. host: a veteran on a line for

democrats. ted. good morning caller: i would like to say all veterans, let's have a happy day. let's think about all the people we served with. let's try to keep the conversation civil. i have been around the world and had a great time. ve in the1978, acti reserves. butr fired a shot in anger spent all kinds of time training. i just feel that there is a civilian military divide. in my generation, guys that i know, you'll see them with hanging off the rearview mirror of their pickup.

i would ask, where you can get them? "you can buy them from a magazine." something like that. i refer to them as the woulda, coulda, shoulda guys. i think back to this guy's generation. cheney.of w and mr. i think of -- it ironic when mr. cheney in college on a deferment a could not find his courage during vietnam but he could find his courage to send men like your speaker to a shooting war. i just like to say to all people involved. i get my health care at the v.a. i was a plumber in the air force. i am a union plumber today.

i find that i have done lots of work on the civilian side, hospitals versus the v.a. when the v.a., makes a mistake they put it on the front page of the paper. i encourage all veterans to use your v.a. health care. it is very good. i have no complaints. have a nice day. host: i will let you respond. guest: thank you for your service during the cold war. it is not just about people who served in hot wars but also served the country in other ways during that time. the callers talk about politicians. somebody on the other side of the aisle could bring up counter examples to that.

we will say that when you join the military, you take an oath to support and defend the constitution and those civilian leaders who are elected and appointed above you. we do not get to make the choices of where we go and do not go. this was a contentious issue a few months back. every tile general wrote a piece talkingwashington post about relaying comments from people and how they did not want to use force in syria and that is a problem. we do not get to decide and that is the way it is in our system of government. his point about the v.a. does good things as well. we should not shirk from calling

them out when bad things happen. that does happen in other health care providers, not in the v.a. system as well. comments, does that relate to your comments when you wrote in your piece that veterans should be treated with respect by not absolute deference and awe? guest: there was a book a few civilian-about controlled military and civilian commands and talked about the military, those who serve in the military have one viable perspective and can sometimes make mistakes. he talks about the second world war, where the joint chiefs wanted to launch the invasion of europe much earlier.

fdr wsaisaid no. that we are going to work her way up to that. that was the right call in the end. the military has an important perspective. they know about those who served with them but they do not have the only perspective and don't always have a monopoly on good strategic sense. host: michael noonan is with the foreign policy rsearch institute . explain what the institute is. independentprofit think tank. it was started in 1955 at the university of pennsylvania that we split off in 1970 as part of the vietnam war. we did research education on foreign and defense policy issues.

we do not conduct any classified research. if you want to learn more about the foreign policy rsearch fpri.org and you can follow it on twitter. on the subject of the "serving or servicing the civil-military divide, edwin writes in on twitter. we will go to lc on the phone from jacksonville, alabama. good morning, elsie. caller: good morning and happy veterans day. birmingham claims to have one of the oldest veterans day parades in the country. before the veterans day, we had armistice day. we had a parade when i was a child and that was quite a few years ago.

i was a military wife. my husband was in the military before world war ii started. mr. noonan was talking about fort drummond, new york. my husband was stationed at the philippine islands and that is where he was when world war ii started. the towns that we lived in really supported the military. they were glad to have them there. for most of my life when we were in the service, we did live in areas that were very welcoming to the military. but i will say when we were in the military and lived on the basis, everybody supported each other. our husbands were gone a good bit. if you had an emergency, you always had friends you could call. everybody help each other. i had children that were

hospitalized. i had to stay at the hospital with them. we had to stay 24 hours a day with them. my friends kept my other children. it is a different life altogether. remove to alabama when my husband retired. wasoved to an area that military installation. it was closed about 10 years ago, which made a lot of difference in the economy of our little town here. enjoyed being in the military. we got to do things, my children were exposed to things, they had things going on about the space program. we got to go out and see things about that. they were exposed to a lot of things that people who lived off the base were not exposed to. now, he was talking a few minutes about drones.

my husband was in a drone squadron in new mexico in 1957. he wasn't aircraft mechanic -- he was an aircraft mechanic. we are supporting. big installations, the towns. i am sure it is different. host: thank you for calling in. robert is next from indianapolis, a veteran this morning. thank you for calling in. caller: thank you for taking my call.. like the divide is a result of the political climate at the time. the counterculture was in the school and every campus had various protests. now that counterculture is the leadership of the democratic party and most of the media.

all they have done is project that style of thinking to the wars they do not agree with. i was treated fantastic by my local community when i came home from the gulf war. years later the community itself was supportive. campus,gton, around the people were awful. it is basically an affront to the political climate at the time and whatever the popular culture is pushing. host: i will you jump in on that comment. guest: i would say about vietnam, the counterculture backs off when the draft ended. once they were not threatened by having to go serve, a kind of deflated the issue for the counterculture. there were still people opposed to the war.

some of the edge probably came off of it. just about the partisan tone of things. went for obama election in 2008 on an antiwar, to end the war in iraq. his first term, he was pretty forceful. differenty it looks when people -- i do not think we should be making broad, sweeping generalizations about how one group groups these things. end ofou talk about the the draft. do you think a return of the draft would help narrow the gap? guest: perhaps but i do not think it is going to happen. there would not be an equitable way to do it.

it is about 4.2 million americans turned 18 every year. that would be a tremendous amount of human resources. the military is less than half of that on active duty. there'll not be an adaptable way even if you do things like lotteries. there would still be some issues there. somethingce -- it that people talk about and that would solve the problems but it would add some serious implementation problems. host: john from texas on a line from democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i volunteered for vietnam. not everybody was drafted. i was hired when i got back by a big company. they were overflowing with

people bucking the draft. the company was actively encouraging getting people in the guards and the reserve, % ticket out of the war. i was presented openly by people i worked with. i never once felt my service was acknowledged. there was always a divide. host: i will give you the last comments on the last minute or so we have here. guest: yeah, i mean. i cannot fathom what it was to come back from vietnam. i think it is a credit to the american people that they for most people they separated the politics from those that served and i think that is for the best

of the country. host: michael noonan is with the foreign policy rsearch institute , if you nd delivered remarks. that happening this morning at 11:00 this morning. you can see that on c-span. the bureau of labour statistics release its october jobs report which of the unemployment rate among veterans had jumped to 6.9% from 6.5% in september. joining us to discuss veterans employment is ward carroll, a former navy pilot who serves as editor of military.com. put the veterans' employment numbers in perspective for us. it is lower than the general population. guest: it is a slight up tack. over the long haul of the post 9/11 period, it is trending downward.

depending on what demographic you're carving out, it has been as high as 14% and 15% overall and for some groups it has been in the mid-20s. it is trending in the right direction. some of the initiatives are on the right track. there are other things that veterans can do and employers can do to improve the numbers. host: some of those places where the numbers are high. talk about women's employment, women's veterans employment. 8%, according to the latest number. stills down from 9.5% but relatively high compared to the general population. guest: women's employment and if you make a subset at of a younger demographic, the number

20alarmingly high, may percentile.- mid 20 there is a number of factors that you can bring to bear. it is not always unique to gender. how they are looking in terms of the education they have. what are the personal circumstances? all of these things can create an environment that is frustrating for veterans to find jobs. host: you work at military.com. they were affiliated with monster.com. explain what military.com is. guest: it is a website with the full range of offerings for the military experience. those thinking of joining and those already in and those

transitioning to get out. that is why monster acquired, to find veterans jobs. they are active in the public and private initiatives to find that arends jobs. it is a good marriage -- to find veterans jobs. we have news letters that we push each other in a and periodically to our members. to get you for us your information in a tailored fashion. news pieces those about female veterans. insecure female veterans compared to male veterans. they feel their skill was less relevant to civilian careers. they make up 10% of our nations

veterans. talk more about that study. guest: monster and military.com do an index. radically. this is a survey to see where they are in terms of understanding of each other's needs, skills, and the things that either party rings to bear when it comes time to find a job or to bring somebody into the workforce. uncoveredecent index female veterans are feeling ill prepared and perhaps miss understood by potential employers about what they did when they were in uniform and the attributes that could transform into them qualified for a given job. host: we are talking to ward carrollof military.com.

happy to hear your thoughts and questions. the phone lines -- democrats, 202-585-3880. republicans, 202-585-3881. independents, 202-585-3882. phone lines are open. one other segment i want to talk about is younger veterans. the unemployment rate for gulf men, 9.6%ns, 10% for for women. how is this trending for young veterans? guest: it was trending downwards. we are never satisfied we are out of the woods. the overall is in the 10% range. it is twice as high for 20 to 24-year-olds.

there is some sense that employers are not understand what is these folks did when they were in uniform. these people are not effectively articulating what it was that they did and therefore there is a disconnect which is not allowing them to get the jobs. we have some things to help. you can take your occupational specialty and translated to sell it makes sense to an employer that does not exactly do what you did when you were in uniform. trainingmostly a transitioning issue? guest: there is a burden on both sides. there is a burden on the job seeker to package themselves in a way that resonates with a potential employer. employers on not necessarily going to do it for them.

let's say i was a truck driver in afghanistan. i did these high risk convoys. iw i am ready to get out but want to be a sales rep for a company or want to get into marketing. how you make yourself attract to a potential employer is on you but also on the employer to understand the attributes you could bring even though my company does not drive trucks. that is some of what we are seeing. numbers fromore the labor department. post00 veterans from the 9/11 era. we are talking about this with ward carroll. first up is eric underline for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. where are the jobs?

population unemployment for african- americans is 13%. for whites is around 6%. i would imagine the military is higher than that. project toy kind of bring the unemployment rate down for african americans? such as giving them grants to start jobs. if the unemployment rate was this high among whites, we might have riots. where are the jobs? host: any specific programs that you know of? guest: i am not aware of any programs that are dedicated to african-americans. hiring our heroes. the first lady has been active in veterans transition and veteran jobs.

of one that is specifically aimed at african- americans. i cannot speak to that element. i am aware of jobs for all veterans and all veterans that are transitioning. host: we are talking with ward carroll. there are about 246,000 unemployment veterans. we have a special line for 202- 585-3880 and afghanistan war vets. they can call in on 202-585-3883 , along with our other lines. we will keep rolling those numbers for you. anthony is next, a veteran. thank you for calling in.' caller: good morning. good morning, america. one of the most important things about being a vet is are --anding that we

when you have the best athletes, they get drafted. if we have less than 1% that served, then we are the best prospects for our nation's defense. when we have the individuals who have served, and i was medevac out of theater and i have top level security clearances, and when i came back and i went through the next some program, because veterans spoke up and i received my results and i knew i 100%% away from being totally disabled. i was able to come back to my civil service position. my civil service employer --

"i think i need to retire and i was denied that. i had to return back to my civil service job and it was for the army. i wasn't active duty soldier, a civil servant soldier. i left theodore directing an army regional computing registry response team. that is cyber warfare. i came back to my job and i entered an environment that was so harsh that my health got worse. what i am saying is i do not let that destroy me. i go to the local police department, fire department. i take and bake goods. i will donate my entire 100% v.a. disability check back to

the community because i did not come into the military for pay but to take the skills that i had learned in the civilian community and make our nation stronger. host: thank you for calling in. anthony talk about the transition issue. we have this on twitter. guest: i think that is a little bit of a cliché. thank you for your service, anthony. just like in the military, sometimes you get with a unit that has a good atmosphere. all results will not be the same with the transition. we are describing what is challenging about the transition. sometimes it works out where you're in the job for years and years and sometimes it is a

toxic environment were the people are not your kind of people and you either move on or you indoor -- endure. his status off him to get employment. we are talking about people that do not have jobs. anthony had a job. it was not one that he enjoyed. in terms of the d programming, this is part of what we fight on a daily basis. stone narrative. -- go to war, you are, ties, you are traumatized, you come back, and you are a burden on society. this is not charity. we want job seekers and employers to understand.

that is part of the narrative we are trying to dispel. certainly people are doing some things that are unique to the military experience. isng a rifleman in a squad not something you're probably going to do stateside. having embedded with those guys, the most professional, they get it. i would want every one of them to work at military.com if we had jobs for them. host: ward carroll served in four different squadrons around the world. we are talking about military employment rates. theunemployment rates from bureau of labour statistics are broken down by states. arizona is here just over 9%. the state with the lowest

veterans unemployment rate is north dakota. the state with the highest is new jersey, 10%. we are talking military veterans unemployment rate. james is next on a line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i've been retired for a while. i retired in 2005. i come from a small town in louisiana. there is nothing around this area. it is just tough these days for veterans like myself. too many jobs around this area. i do what i can. enjoy veterans day today. there is not much in this area.

find.re hard to they are just not coming anymore. host: thank you for your service -- guest: thank you for your service. i served on a number of aircraft carriers. do live in northern or southern louisiana? caller: about 20 minutes from lake charles. there is not much in this area unless you go out of state are further down south like new orleans, but i am not going to move. guest: there are constraints in your ability to translate your military skills. you were comfortable at sea. i could see working for a company servicing oil rigs or other shipping. that, you have to bring to bear what you learned in the navy.

shop early, stay late, how to be a leader. every boatswain's mate i met was good in terms of creating the right tone morale-wise. i'm not saying it easy. it could be very challenging. if you were willing to move, i think you would be able to find employment that you would like user than if you stayed near lake charles. --t: holly on twitter guest: that is still going on. they get a tax credit. there are other initiatives that the administration did to create this awareness among firms that might not otherwise consider veterans.

dr. biden and the first lady are doing other programs. i believe these are slowly starting to work. the public has a short memory. a lot of us think the war ended with the bin laden take down. a tight budgetary environment. everybody feels the pinch of the government shutdown. i am afraid people's focused on veterans employment might weigh on that and that would be a disservice to those who gave their all. host: robert from missouri honor line for republicans. good morning. you are on with ward carroll. caller: good morning. i would like to speak on behalf of the veterans coming home. i was a veteran. i was retired in 1971 from the navy. i would like to speak up for the

veterans. the media gives the veterans a bad rap. they talk about the veterans coming back, hooked on drugs, hooked on dope. i blame the doctors in the v.a. doctors-- i blame the for not giving the right medication to these veterans. these veterans are going in and these doctors are just filling them full of trucks. -- drugs. and the out of that poor veteran, some are living on the street. they are turning to alcohol. well, the media puts out the veterans. they write bad about the

veterans. what is an employer supposed to do? host: thank you for the call. the subject is a front page story in "the wall street journal." meds. demon -- their guest: i do not think that is a new demon. ptsd is a label that has existed since man first daughter going to war -- first started going to war. it is an acute problem for the veterans. thank you for your service. he talked about two things at once. he talked about doctors perhaps overprescribing meds. we have seen that. objectively the v.a.

has done a lot to solve all of their issues since these wars started. higher visibility on the amount that meds are prescribed and that is what they are trying to solve. is a work in ptsd progress. 1600 more psychological or medical health professionals have been hired to try to tackle this problem. the other part of the question is about the public perception issue. yes, i see it. it frustrates me. people with no military warpednce tend to have a perception of what the military experience is all about as a function of some of the high visibility stuff they say.

i am not going to dismiss the sometimes people do not have challenges as a result of fighting a war. these things are no minor issue when it comes time to just live your life as a civilian. the military experience by and large is one that is very positive for most individuals and orients them to be very reductive in society. he feels like he is a leader among his peers and his neighborhoods and i think that is what is true. this is why employers should take advantage of those with military experience. what they bring in terms of morale. host: you brought up disabled veterans. , courtesy of that

"slate." veteransaid disabled $14.8 billion in 2000. to $39.4r rose in 2011 billion. matthew is up next as we talk to iraq ward carroll -- as we talk to ward carroll. good morning. caller: is there data on the employment rates of veterans as they go back to a public university first, private university, trade school, or they go directly into the workforce. whether military.com has reports on the fly-by-night for profit universities picking up veterans there has money --

been stories about them not finding jobs. host: ward carroll? guest: i cannot speak to the first issue. i have my own opinion about what pedigree does in terms of your ability to find a job. if you can get into harvard or private schools, that probably situates you for an advantage when it comes time to find a job. those transitioning are no different than high schoolers that are looking to have an advantage once they start looking for a job. in terms of the for profit school issues. been sussingom has out the bad actors. of new g.i. bill puts a lot

to be usedthe pool by veterans to pursue a traditional education at a a look institution and you will go to college, or perhaps to an online for-profit school. what we have seen more and more is there were some for-profit schools that were headed toward -- predatory. no service after the sale and the dropout rate was huge. if they did manage to get their degree and went to find a job, there was no appreciation by the employee or about the degree. that was not a good thing for the vet. there were some congressional committees that went to try to figure out what went on. we sat down and said what we knew. we share matthew's concern that

there are some institutions not doing a service for the veterans. you only have so many g.i. bill dollars. host: darius is up from maryland, a veteran. thank you for calling in. caller: good morning. i am and afghanistan veteran. in 2011.loyed i was still classified as a crew chief. i believe my skills are very talented. i have a stake clearance. i am akai clique inclined -- i am mechanically inclined. i still cannot get a job.

i could not find any real form of work, other than working at a mcdonald's or some small place that did not pay much. comet there was unfair to home and have all this experience, all this knowledge, and not to capitalize on. in world war ii, these veterans came home -- these guys built the country. they put these people to work because they were good men and women. that is what these veterans are today. not traumatized and brain-dead. we are hard workers and we want to work. host: the white house put out a chart after that employment report came out last week showing post-september 11 2001

veterans unemployment rate. veterans, muchce lower there. ward carroll -- guest: thanks to your service. chiefs.pect for crew i guess i would ask, where do you live and have you tried to find employment with the airlines? is he off the line? i do not know the exact circumstance of his situation. a crew chief has certain skills that would be very germane to the airline industry. i know the airlines have hiring initiatives to bring veterans aboard. ceo's of airlines are military aviation veterans. i think it is a matter of

leaving your comfort zone in terms of where you live, in some cases. i am not saying that is something people need to get over. with his profile, i would have to believe that there is employment out there that is right. i am not trying to dismiss his frustration. i know it is a challenge. i think there is a job for him that he doesn't know about. host: joseph from new york. you are on with ward carroll of military.com. caller: host good morning and hy veterans day. thank you very much. i have a question. i retired in 1994. war,ved in vietnam, gulf and bosnia.

about this job situation. every caller that called is right. when i cap out the first time, i was very confused. i tried to get a job and they hated us. i was a crew chief also. out, i couldn't find a job. i went back into the military. i worked in oklahoma for six years. the thing is, i have other experience and linguistic skills. i speak five different languages. when i got out, retired a third time, i tried to get a job in a postal office. they would not hire me. i had an 80% disability. not care if do

you're disabled or if you are a vet. you want everything handed to you." no, we did not. i just wanted a job. i had to go through a federal court. i won my course. i got everything. i am retired and i collect my pension. it is unfair for the people to look at the veteran as bad guys. that is how they look at us. nuts.ys, crazy, i get treated now for ptsd. i got skin cancer that i received in the gulf war. they think it is agent orange. it is stress. is nation of this country

letting smart, young people and they are willing to work. yes, they might have some problems. host: i will let you comment on joseph. guest: he is bringing a lot of experience in a lot of different areas. he was talking about vietnam. andved in washington, d.c., i saw the riots and half the city on fire. i would have to say the atmosphere -- he was saying he got out in 1994. ishink the public endeavoring to get it. there are hiring initiatives that could potentially solve a problem like those that joseph faced when he got out in 1994. he talks about his linguistic skills.

is joseph willing to live in the greater d.c. metro area instead of where he is living now? this is part of what you are seeing. it is what you would call bommer omer guilt. i think things are better. from ward carroll military.com. the world war ii memorial on the mall in washington, d.c. veteranslking about issues all morning. just before the start of the weekend, eric shin sankey said he was slowing down a program aimed at the disability claims waiting to be processed. joining us to talk about mental